Het bestuurlijk instrumentarium voor een weerbaar bestuur

De huidige samenleving kent een hoge mate van onzekerheid. Internationale politiek, democratische rechtsstaat, sociale spanningen – er zijn veel thema’s waar de maatschap-pelijke verhoudingen lijken te verschuiven. Wat gisteren nog vanzelfsprekend was, kan morgen totaal anders eruit zien. Het brengt een gevoel van onbehagen met zich mee dat doorklinkt in de politiek, maar ook in het dagelijks leven. De criminaliteit is de laatste 10-15 jaar bijvoorbeeld drastisch veranderd. De kleine criminaliteit nam af, maar politie en justitie hebben het desalniettemin drukker dan ooit Dit heeft onder meer te maken met een toenemende aandacht voor georganiseerde criminaliteit, waar veelal minder zichtbare en ondermijnende processen aan gerelateerd zijn. Ondermijning van de economie, de rechtsorde en de sociale kwaliteit van de samenle-ving kent echter ook vormen van problematisch gedrag die niet zonder meer crimineel zijn te noemen. We noemen wat voorbeelden: een radicale imam die de gelijkheid van man en vrouw ter discussie stelt; mentale druk op een gemeenteraadslid om zich te verzetten tegen een verordening; het isolement van religieuze groepen, extremistische provocaties rond een moskee – stuk voor stuk incidenten waar moeilijk de vinger op te leggen is , maar die bijdragen aan een gevoel van onbehagen bij burgers en autoriteiten. Dit rapport heeft betrekking op deze laatste categorie van problematische gedragingen met ondermijnende effecten. Het heeft tot doel de instrumenten in kaart te brengen die een gemeente c.q. een burgemeester ten dienste staan om problematisch gedrag tegen te gaan. Het aantal bestuursmaatregelen voor onwettelijk gedrag is in de afgelopen jaren behoorlijk gegroeid. Op basis van empirisch onderzoek en enkele gevalsstudies laten we zien dat een omvattend instrumentarium ter beschikking staat voor het aanpakken van de kluwen van strafbaar, onwettelijk en onwenselijk gedrag. Maatregelen hebben soms een heel specifieke werking, maar vaak ook een breder toepassingsgebied. Instrumenten Hieronder geven we een beknopt overzicht van het instrumentarium dat de burge-meester ter beschikking staat. Het bleek lastig om die te beperken tot niet-strafbare gedragingen. Het komt erop aan proportioneel, en op het juiste moment het meest geschikte instrument in te zetten. Daarom eindigt het rapport met een zogenoemde escalatiepiramide, waarmee de zwaarte van de interventie kan worden bepaald. Dit model is ook in deze samenvatting meegenomen. In het rapport is de achtergrond ervan te lezen; het geeft een meer inhoudelijk beeld van problematische gedragingen, moge-lijkheden en feitelijke inzet van bestuurlijke maatregele

Combined whole-body vibration, resistance exercise, and sustained vascular occlusion increases PGC-1α and VEGF mRNA abundances

We previously reported that high load resistance exercise with superimposed whole-body vibration and sustained vascular occlusion (vibroX) markedly improves cycling endurance capacity, increases capillary-to-fibre ratio and skeletal muscle oxidative enzyme activity in untrained young women. These findings are intriguing, since increases in oxidative muscle phenotype and endurance capacity are typically induced by endurance but not heavy resistance exercise. Here, we tested the hypothesis that vibroX activates genes associated with mitochondrial biogenesis and angiogenesis. Eight healthy, recreationally resistance-trained young men performed either vibroX or resistance exercise (RES) in a randomised, cross-over design. Needle biopsies (M. vastus lateralis) were obtained at rest and 3 h post-exercise. Changes in relative gene expression levels were assessed by real-time quantitative PCR. After vibroX, vascular endothelial growth factor and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator 1α mRNA abundances increased to 2- and 4.4-fold, respectively, but did not significantly change above resting values after RES. Other genes involved in mitochondrial biogenesis were not affected by either exercise modality. While vibroX increased the expression of hexokinase II, xanthine dehydrogenase, and manganese superoxide dismutase mRNA, there were no changes in these transcripts after RES. This study demonstrates that high load resistance exercise with superimposed whole-body vibration and sustained vascular occlusion activates metabolic and angiogenic gene programs, which are usually activated after endurance but not resistance exercise. Thus, targeted modification of high load resistance exercise by vibration and vascular occlusion might represent a novel strategy to induce endurance-type muscle adaptations

Of “sluts” and “arseholes”: Antagonistic desire and the production of sexual vigilance

This article examines a contemporary antagonism in gendered safety discourses—the imperative to be free in public space against the obligation to be safe and “properly” feminine. We argue that this produces (and is produced by) contemporary rape culture, which might be contested through recourse to an agonistic ethic. Using qualitative interview data, we examine how participants contest victim-blaming discourses, while limiting how far they will accept the female body’s right to occupy public space. This article has significant implications for approaching social justice, in particular justice for women and their right to occupy public space

Who talks to whom about what? How interdisciplinary communication and knowledge of expertise distribution improves in integrated R&D labs

Although several studies have examined the impact of open workspaces, there is still an on-going debate about its advantages and disadvantages. Our paper contributes to this debate by shedding light on three issues: the effect of open workspaces on (1) the flow of communication along and across hierarchical lines; (2) the content of communication; and (3) the specificities of open integrated laboratories. Our findings derive from a longitudinal case in a large pharmaceutical company that has relocated some R&D teams from enclosed to multi-space offices and labs. The relocation has resulted in (a) increased interdisciplinary communication, particularly at lower hierarchical levels, (b) a shift of the location of discussions and the content of conversations and (c) an improved knowledge about expertise distribution. Practitioner Summary Communication is essential in knowledge-driven organisations. This article examines the impact of a relocation of R&D employees from enclosed to multi-space offices and labs on communication patterns. We explain how the new environment fosters interdisciplinary communication, shifts the location of discussions and increases the knowledge of expertise distribution

Exploring the cultural dimensions of environmental victimization

It has become increasingly clear in recent years that our understanding of ‘victimisation’ is informed by a whole range of societal and political factors which extend well beyond whatever particular form of words appears in any given directive, code or legislative instrument concerning crime, crime victims or criminal justice systems. In this paper, I will seek for the first time to apply recent developments in our understanding of so-called 'cultural victimology' to the issue of environmental harm and its impact on human and non-human animals. McCGarry and Waklate (2015) characterise cultural victimology as broadly comprising of two key aspects. These are the wider sharing and reflection of individual and collective victimisation experiences on the one hand and, on the other, the mapping of those experiences through the criminal justice process. In this discussion I will examine how environmental victimisation is viewed by and presented to society at large and will argue that such representations often fail, as a form of testimony, to adequately convey the traumas involved. Nor is this achieved through the application of present models of criminal, civil or administrative justice regimes in many jurisdictions. This lack of cultural acknowledgement of the harms vested on environmental victims, it is argued, afford us a clearer understand of the continued reticence amongst lawmakers, politicians and legal practitioners to adequately address the impacts of such victimisation through effective justice or regulatory mechanisms. This is unfortunate given that the often collective nature of environmental victimisation makes this particularly suited to a more cultural analysis and understanding. It is argued that various forms of environmental mediation processes might hold the key to this cultural reticence to accept environmental harm as a 'real' and pressing problem as compared to other criminal and civil justice concerns

Drivers and Effects of Internationalising Innovation by SMEs

This paper investigates the drivers and the effects of the internationalisation of innovation activities in SMEs based on a large data set of German firms covering the period 2002-2007. We look at different stages of the innovation process (R&D, design, production and sales of new products, and implementation of new processes) and explore the role of internal resources, home market competition and innovationrelated location advantages for an SME’s decision to engage in innovation activities abroad. By linking international innovation activities to firm growth in the home market we try to identify likely internationalisation effects at the firm level. The results show that export experience and experience in knowledge protection are highly important for international innovation activities of SMEs. Fierce home market competition turns out to be rather an obstacle than a driver. High innovation costs stimulate internationalisation of non-R&D innovation activities, and shortage of qualified labour expels production of new products. R&D activities abroad and exports of new products spur firm growth in the home market while there are no negative effects on home market growth from shifting production of new products abroad

Beyond crime statistics: the construction and application of a criminogenity monitor in Amsterdam

Criminologists have devoted a great deal of attention to risk factors - also called criminogenic factors - leading to criminal offending. This paper presents a criminogenity monitor which includes 19 risk factors that underlie crime. These factors do not themselves cause criminal behaviour; rather, they must be seen as signals that crimes may be committed. After discussing how the criminogenity monitor was constructed, we apply the risk factors we examined to the situation in Amsterdam, capital city of the Netherlands. The monitor is intended to function particularly as an instrument to rationalise policy-makers' work in targeting and preventing symptoms of crime at three geographical levels: the entire city, its boroughs and its neighbourhoods. © 2012 The Author(s)

Drivers for international innovation activities in developed and emerging countries

This paper aims to shed light on firm specific drivers that lead firms to internationalise their innovation activities. The paper draws a comprehensive picture of driving forces by including firm capabilities, characteristics of the firm’s competitive environment and the influence of innovation obstacles in the home country. In particular, the role of the potential driving forces is tested on the probability to carry out different innovative activities abroad (R&D, design/conception of new products, manufacturing of innovative products and implementation of new processes). In a second step these driving forces are used to observe their impact on the decision to locate innovation activities in various countries and regions (China, Eastern Europe, Western Europe and North America) as well as in groups of countries with similar levels of knowledge (country clubs). The analysis is based on the Mannheim Innovation Panel survey which represents the German CIS (Community Innovation Survey) contribution. Two survey waves are combined and result in a sample of about 1400 firms. The results show that the decision to perform innovation activities abroad is mainly driven by organisational capabilities such as absorptive capacities, international experience and existing technological competences of the respective firm. Innovation barriers at the German home base such as lack of labour and high innovation costs foster the set up of later-stage innovation activities abroad while the lack of demand demonstrates a barrier to the internationalisation decision for the development and manufacturing of new products. Location decisions receive the strongest influencing effects from the international experience of the firm. Firms which innovate in developing countries seem to require a more extensive level of international experience by international R&D cooperation

Safety vs. reputation: risk controversies in emerging policy networks regarding school safety in the Netherlands

This article deals with risk controversies in emerging policy networks regarding school safety in the Netherlands. It offers a grounded account of the interpretations of school risks and safety measures by the various stakeholders of the policy network, in particular, schools, local government and the police. Theoretically, policy networks are conceived as mediating between the structural conditions of the risk-society and the culture of fear on the one hand and the institution of safety standards on the organizational level of schools on the other hand. It is argued that in the low-risk context of schools, it is particularly important to take into account the soft, cultural side of safety next to the hard, material side of safety. This distinction also accounts for the ambiguities and controversies over school risks. A further conclusion is that in this network a lack of local leadership seems to hinder the development of firm safety measures. Overall, this article highlights the paradox between a concern for safety and a concern for a schools reputation. © 2012 Taylor & Francis